Desk Ergonomics

We’ve all had someone tell us to “sit up straight” at some point in our lives, and with most people having sedentary jobs, sitting posture tends to get worse.

It’s one thing to think about keeping a good posture while sitting at your desk, but if your environment (desk, chair, screen, etc.) isn’t set up properly, it can make it a lot harder to keep that “good posture”.

You can use your work environment to your advantage to help with your posture. Here are a few helpful tips:

• Your chair should be adjusted to the height of the desk. When your chair is at the right height, your elbows should be bent approximately 90 degrees with your forearms resting on the desk and your arms by your side.
• You should use your chair’s armrests when possible to rest your elbows.
• Your feet should be firmly touching the ground with your knees bent approximately 90 degrees. If your feet aren’t touching the ground when your chair is at desk height, then you should use a small stool to rest your feet on to keep this contact.
• The top 1/3 of your screen should be at eye level when sitting up straight.
• Your screen shouldn’t be too far from the edge of the desk. (You shouldn’t need to lean forward to properly read from your screen).
• When working with two screens, if one is used more often it should be straight ahead in the middle with the other screen being to the side and rotated towards the middle. (When turning to look at the second screen, you should use your chair to turn your whole body, as opposed to simply turning your head). If both are used equally, then they should be centred with both screens slightly rotated to the middle.
• Your keyboard and mouse should be close to the edge of the desk to avoid having to reach forward to type/scroll.

Use your environment to your advantage!